A month after the tragic Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad that claimed at least 270 lives, a preliminary report from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has highlighted a critical issue: the engines' fuel switches were shifted from “CUTOFF” to “RUN” within seconds of each other.
According to the 15-page AAIB report released early Saturday, cockpit voice recordings captured one pilot asking, “Why did you cut off?” — to which the other pilot replied that he hadn’t done so.
The unexpected switch to “CUTOFF” shut off fuel to the engines, potentially triggering the fatal sequence of events aboard the Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 on June 12.
Moments later, both engines' fuel switches were moved back to “RUN,” suggesting the pilots attempted to recover the aircraft.
The plane’s flight recorders showed signs of automatic relight attempts by the Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) system. However, the data recording stopped shortly afterward.
A distress call — MAYDAY — was sent out but received no follow-up. Air Traffic Control soon lost contact and observed the aircraft crash just outside the airport boundary.
The fully fueled aircraft crashed into a medical hostel, killing 241 of the 242 people onboard and around 30 people on the ground.
CCTV footage confirmed that the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), typically deployed during total engine or system failure, activated immediately after takeoff. The report found no signs of bird activity that could have interfered with the engines.
The flight was captained by Sumeet Sabharwal, a Line Training Captain with 8,200 flight hours, and First Officer Clive Kundar, with 1,100 hours of experience.
The AAIB also noted historical precedent: in the 1980s, a Delta Airlines pilot accidentally shut off fuel to a Boeing 767 mid-flight, but managed to restart the engines in time, avoiding disaster.
The investigation into what caused the cutoff — and whether it was accidental or due to technical failure — is ongoing.
